My Name Is Earl: "Orphan Earl"Review

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Earl pulls off a giant scam, just in time for Christmas.

By Jonah Krakow

The Christmas season has definitely come to television as NBC aired its slew of holiday-themed shows in its "Comedy Night Done Right" block. The great news is that, perhaps as an early Christmas present to the loyal My Name Is Earl viewers out there, the night began with a genuinely good episode, its first in many weeks. While it may not have been the funniest story, it did nail the emotional component found in many of the best Earl episodes.

Long before Earl turned his life around, he and Joy conned an old man, Mr. Hill, into thinking he gave money to starving orphans in Africa, when in reality, Earl and Joy pocketed the money themselves. Years later, when Earl remembered what he'd done and wanted to cross the guy off his list, he discovered that Joy had continued the scam with fake photos, letters and news updates from "Africa" in return for $100 a month. She also recruited two neighbors to join in with their own fake sob stories. Thus, Earl realized the only way to stop Joy and her cohorts was to beat them at their own game.

I'll admit it, this episode got to me. Even though it was low on laugh-out-loud moments, it was still the best Earl episode in a while. The biggest reason was that they finally introduced a victim deserving of our sympathy. Sure, there have been plenty of goofy oddballs in these past few episodes, but none of them were worth remembering the second the show ended. Mr. Hill, on the other hand, wasn't a gimmick. He was just a nice old man who got involved in Earl and Joy's life, for better or worse. The character of Mr. Hill was a nice change of pace.

Another reason for the episode's success was the crisp storytelling. The plot was a serpentine narrative filled with scams and double-crosses that completely had me fooled. And anytime a television show can surprise you, that's a good thing. Earl explained the rules of a good scam up front, and then proceeded to execute those steps right under our noses. With some fake documents, some hired help and his intimate knowledge of Joy's thought process, not only did he fool her and her cohorts, but the viewing audience as well. The reveal was a great "Aha!" moment and something that had been missing from this show for some time. It was a great return to form.

As stated above, this wasn't the most hysterical episode of Earl, but it made up for it with great writing and heart. Perhaps the funniest moment of the show came when Earl revealed his grand plan to Randy, who mistakenly thought the giant scam was actually Earl's karma list and his vow to be a better person. This was a solid episode overall, and one that matched its Christmas theme very well. Although I would have loved some better jokes throughout the episode, it was still nice to see the show get back to its history of strong storytelling.